Summer Life...

Oh wow, I have been failing with this blog thing!!! It appears in my mind every now and then that I need to update this but it just never gets done.

I am going to just crush June, July and most of August into one big long run on paragraph!

June saw the end of a dismal All-Star season for Chandler. His team did not make it past Districts. They did have one more tournament after Districts, and even though there was nothing to gain from the tournament, our team went ahead and played just for fun. Chandler hit an OVER-THE-FENCE homerun during this tournament. His first one ever! We were all excited for him, and the ball has a special place in Chandler's sock drawer. Chandler played well personally, but as we have told him numerous times, one player does not win or lose a baseball game.

Since All-Stars were over, we were able to focus on swim team. Although Chandler had been going to swim team practice since May, we had yet to make it to a swim meet due to baseball. We finally made it to meets. Chandler did very well. He wasn't the fastest kid in his heats, but he definately gave them some hot-n-heavy competition. His normal events were: 50yd Freestyle, 50yd Backstroke, 50yd Butterfly, 200yd Freestyle Relay, 200yd Medley Relay (he was usually the Backstroke on this team). I have to tell you, swim meets are boring. There is alot of sit around and swelter in between when your child swims. There were quite a few homeschoolers that we knew on this particular team, so we killed time by watching them swim in their heats as well.

For Father's Day, we took Chris to brunch at a little restaurant at World Golf Village, the home to the Golf Hall of Fame. It was a nice little place, and we sat on the back patio overlooking a green. We were the only ones out there, which is always nice as we can relax about the wild ways of our 2 year old. No one to care if he is under the table, jumping off the chairs, or making his brother holler that Max is stealing his food. The Golf Hall of Fame was giving free admission that day (which is the only we would ever to there), so we went in and looked around. It was somewhat interesting, kind of, in a way. They did have some interactive displays, were you could try using old fashioned wooden putters, so all of the boys tried that. Max didn't quite get the finesse you need with a putter, and was swinging full on, baseball stance and all. Ya really needed to stand back. After going through the musuem, we decided to go bowling. All the boys are into it. Cooper got a strike and was jumping for joy!

Cooper attended Vacation Bible School for a week in June, everyday from 9a-12p. Chandler could have attended as well, but when I asked him if he would like to (pretty sure I already knew the answer, but thought I would ask anyway), he told me "That isn't his thing". Okay then! Cooper LOVED it! He had a blast and couldn't wait to go every day. He was sad when it was over.

July marked the beginning of the preteens in our house! Chandler officially made double digits. 10 he is! We celebrated his birthday by taking him to Adventure Landing, which is small-scale amusement park, with water park, arcade, go-karts. We spent the day there and had a good time. We took him out for his birthday dinner to Joe's Crab house at Jacksonville Beach. He loves crab legs, so we figured he would love it. We sat outside on the deck right on the beach. It was a bit of a overcast day, so not too hot. After dinner, we went onto the beach and set up to play and stay for the fireworks. It was a long day, but I think Chandler enjoyed himself. The next night, Saturday, we had the little ones stay with Grandma while we took Chandler to Cosmic Bowling night. Basically they turn off the lights, have blacklights and disco lights, and smoke coming out, with fun loud music. Chandler loves going to this, but it can get pricey. This was kind of a add-on to his birthday. We had a great time and Chandler won the first game. He beat me, Daddy, and Grandpa! This was not a Gimmy, he truly won! We had the front desk print out the score sheet and saved it for Chandler. As a side note to this, Max threw his first official HUGE TWO YEAR OLD TANTRUM at Adventure Landing. He DID NOT want to leave. I had to carry him kicking and screaming into the bathroom to change. I had managed to get his swimsuit off when he took off running for the door, screaming and crying that he wanted "POOL"! Just at that moment, some girls were walking in and had the door open, so he managed to get out of the bathroom. So imagine, Max is running, screaming, crying around this pool butt-naked. Just about the time I catch him, Chris comes out of the men's room. I had to pass him to Chris at that point, because I was just done. But that is the worst tantrum he had ever thrown. He must have liked it, because we have had a few similiar incidents since :((((. Oh well, we will get through it!!

Mid-July Chandler attended a "Take your Child to work day" at Blue Cross Blue Shield with Grandma. He was really looking forward to this day. I think that probably he enjoyed spending time with Grandma, but wasn't really impressed with "work".

Since Chris has Tuesdays off, every Tuesday in July we went to the beach. We found a new beach to call home. Our regular beach is about a 20 minute drive from us. It is a nice county beach, with a lifeguard, bathrooms and a shower. Nothing wrong with it. But then we found Vilano Beach, which is about 35 minutes from us. It is also a county beach, with all of the same amenities, BUT you can DRIVE onto the beach. Due to the fact that we take practically the entire house to the beach with us, this is a KEY element. We just drive on, back into our spot, and take out what we need. No lugging from the parking lot. It also has a crop of rocks a walk down the beach, which is fun for the boys during low-tide to see what kind of creatures and shells have washed up into the tide pools.

Chandler has been wanting to have a Poker Party, so we combined that with his birthday party. We invited his friends over to the Pool Cabana, and have a Pool and Poker Party. We requested no gifts, but instead to consider a donation to the www.savethemanatees.org foundation. Unfortunately it downpoured most of the night, but we had 11 boys who had a great time playing poker. Chris was in heaven as the dealer, and I just spent most of the evening cleaning up after the boys. In the end, I think Chandler really enjoyed his party.

The last week in July, Chandler attended Camp Immokalee, an week-long over-night camp out in the middle of the woods run by the YMCA. He stayed in a rustic cabin with 11 other boys his age. He did paintball, archery, tubing, BB gun, plus other different activities. He had a blast. He has asked to stay for two weeks next summer. I was a littled worried about him. If you know Chandler, you know he is a bit of a shy reserved guy. He does not find it easy to walk up and make friends, or even acknowledge other children first. We wondered how he would do. He did have a buddy that was going to be in the same cabin with him, so that helped break the ice a bit. But he seemed to do great, his counselor's said he was a great kid and he wants to go back. So that is a good report.

The first weekend in August was the City Championships for swim team. This is a huge deal, with 10 YMCA's participating. It was about 8 hours on Saturday, and another 6 hours on Sunday. Chandler swam well, struggled a bit due to not having practiced the week before due to being at camp, but still hung tough. We on the other hand, were miserable hot and miserable hot. It was LOOOOONG weekend!

We have been spending lots of time at the pool and just trying to avoid the heat. August tends to be the month when we have less to do, all of our activities have died down. It is a relaxing month, gearing up for the business of our fall activities.